


The Thing With Feathers

by voodoochild



Category: Boardwalk Empire
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Biblical References, Canon Jewish Character, Fallen Angels, Gen, Judaism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-29 07:17:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voodoochild/pseuds/voodoochild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Salvatore didn't fall so much as saunter vaguely downward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Thing With Feathers

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Emily Dickinson. Fusion with Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman's Good Omens, all apologies to them for stealing the premise. Written for a fic_promptly Biblical AU prompt.

Salvatore hadn't meant to Fall. He'd just sort of - sauntered vaguely downward.

Zev had understood; after all, the Wolf himself had been one of the Elohim before becoming _shedim_. Why he had Fallen, well, that was much contested. Some said it was for the love of a human girl (and called him Nephilim, though not in his hearing), others said it was the price of his wolf-form, still others said he was never truly Elohim at all.

Those last had died with Salvatore's sword in their bellies and the mocking laughter of the Wolf in their ears. Meir had not approved, nose wrinkling in distaste and wings twitching. Before he'd been assigned by the Host as Salvatore's Equal, Meir had never even witnessed bloodshed, save Divine Judgment.

He's learning, because the world of Men is cold and cruel. Meir has had to witness some of the very worst of sins, though he cannot understand them. He is full of questions, and Salvatore and Zev do their best to answer.

 _Why do Men break the Commandments?_

 _Can Men not see as we do, learn from the past to shape the future and trust in Him?_

 _Why did you Fall? Was His love not enough?_

Zev smiles, because Meir is still very young. He is not one of the Ancient, like Zev once was, and has not spent the time on Earth that Salvatore has, but Meir has learned to question Him without following Lucifer's path. Zev takes pride in that (though Meir does not because pride is a sin). Salvatore just wonders how the stains of Earth do not touch Meir, sliding off him like a drop of water upon a wing.

Even after the passage of centuries, Salvatore misses his wings.

Zev has none and never has (because there is a difference between the Fallen and true demons), but Salvatore still stretches muscles that no longer have a function and weeps for the loss of dark black feathers and the soar of his body through the heavens. Zev cannot understand, but Meir can, and curls close to Salvatore to still the weeping. The wings that curve protectively over them are purest white and still glow with goodness.

If he sometimes feels unworthy, he keeps it to himself, because Meir (selfless, questioning Meir) has given him a gift, and he is avaricious enough to savor it.

**Author's Note:**

> \- Salvatore = Charlie Luciano. Salvatore being his given name, as well as Italian for "savior". A fallen angel.  
> \- Zev = Arnold Rothstein. Zev is Hebrew for "wolf", and I blame Nanda for giving me the AR/wolf parallels. A true demon, once an angel.  
> \- Meir = Meyer Lansky. Meir is the Hebraic form of "Meyer", which means "giving light". An angel.  
> \- The Elohim, used in the plural sense, were the "sons of God", or angels. Zev Fell, and became Shedim, or one of the demons in in rabbinical demonology (which is part of the Aggadah, not the Torah itself). Fallen angels don't always become demons, hence Salvatore still remaining mostly-angelic, where Zev turned demonic.  
> \- The Nephilim were the offspring of angels and mortal women, seen in Jewish mythology also as fallen angels. Here, I've differentiated them and gone with the view of the Nephilim as something separate (and a bit more monstrous).  
> \- The concept of "Equals" is an extension of The Arrangement between Aziraphale and Crowley in Good Omens. Here, the Arrangement has been extended to all angels and demons, and Meir is Salvatore's angelic counterpart.


End file.
